Bangladesh is currently going through a 2nd wave of Covid-19 with the Delta variant causing havoc mostly in the rural areas close to the border regions. To curb the spread of the disease, Bangladesh entered into a strict lockdown on July 23 and consecutively extended the lockdown. However, is the lockdown helping or harming?

The infection rate and the death toll are not only higher this time than during the last wave of Covid, but the rates are high outside the big cities, and many deaths are happening in the rural regions. But the lockdown measures have mostly been applied to cities.

Even with the lockdown restrictions on movement, it was impossible to stop people going from one place to another during Eid. Those who left the big cities for Eid did not get enough time to return safely to their city homes and workplaces. Moreover, though many factories are closed, people still need to move for essential services. With public transport remaining inaccessible, there is a massive demand for whatever mode of transportation is available, increasing the risk of the virus spreading.

As a result, the current lockdown is hardly helping to bring down the infection rate and death toll. The failure of lockdowns to curb the disease demonstrates that they are not adequate to reduce the spread of the disease, especially for developing countries like Bangladesh.

So, what can countries like Bangladesh do to avoid present and future lockdowns? The following strategies can be considered:

Offices and workspaces :

No sector other than the essential ones should open at 100 percent capacity after the current lockdown. The other sectors can open only at 50 percent capacity for the employees that need to be present at the office/factory premises. Work from home should be mandatory for all office workers.

Testing:

Increasing the testing capacity of rapid antigen tests and bringing the cost of testing down to a reasonable level is crucial. It will allow many people to test at least twice a week before going to office, visiting a hospital, visiting a close family member.

Public gathering and spaces:

There should beno parties, weddings, or other events till the beginning of next year. No mass gathering should be allowed until next year. Restaurants can only open at 50 percent capacity. Shopping centres should also run only at 50 percent capacity. Not all shops should be allowed to open on the same day.

Transport:

We should have more (not less) public transport to ensure that people can have a safe journey from one place to another. Buses, trains, and ferries should run at 50 percent of their capacity. Factories and offices should provide transportation for office and factory employees. No transportation means no employees on the premises.

Vaccination:

Prioritise vaccinating people in the rural region and from the vulnerable groups of the population. People who are around the age of 25 years, in most cases, are not the most vulnerable people. Also, the government can introduce a vaccine passport. Positive campaigns promoting vaccination should be launched in the rural areas.

ICT for ensuring safety and monitoring of the spread:

Parks and other open spaces can stay open, but can only be visited for an hour a day. People can do grocery shopping physically only for one hour, A digital app should be used to manage and monitor. A nationwide antibody test should be run to understand how much of the population is already infected with the virus. Such a test will help to know how far Bangladesh is from achieving herd immunity. Running a nationwide survey online to understand how many people have tested positive with Covid-19, how many people experienced symptoms of it, how many people in the close family tested positive, died, experienced signs of Covid, etc. could be helpful.

Subsidising healthcare:

When most people are not vaccinated, only having frequent tests can keep the country open and safe. However, testing at private hospitals is very expensive. Also, private hospitals do not do a rapid antigen test. Bringing the cost down of the test can encourage people to do the test more often and enable tracking and tracing of the real spread of the disease.

There have been enough lockdowns and consequently enough infections since March 2020 to understand that in a densely populated country like Bangladesh, lockdowns can only do so much.

Sudipa Sarker is Assistant Professor of Business Development and Technology, at Aarhus University in Denmark.